download (1).jpg (Photo : Reuters)
The Wanda Cinema Line Co., a subsidiary of the Dalian Wanda Group Corporation Limited, a conglomerate company with activities in real estate, tourism, hotels and entertainment controlled by China's fourth-richest man Wang Jianlin, has won approval from regulators for an initial public offering (IPO) in which it hopes to raise up to 2 billion yuan ($325.6 million), Reuters reported.
The listing approval was announced Friday by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. According to documents filed with the regulators, Wanda Cinema wants to use most of the IPO proceeds that will be raised for cinema construction and to supplement cash flow.
Currently, the company has 150 movie theaters with 1,315 screens in more than 80 Chinese cities. As also disclosed in the filing documents, Wang holds 68 percent of Wanda Cinema, while his four brothers and his son jointly own a 3.4-percent stake.
In August, the company said that it was spending $1.2 billion on a plot of land at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, which it will develop as headquarters for its U.S. entertainment business that is to be its "first important step into Hollywood." Back in 2012, it bought North America's second-biggest theater chain, AMC Entertainment, for $2.6 billion, inclusive of $2 billion in assumed debt.
Wang is set to offer next an IPO for his company's real estate unit, the Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Ltd. A previous IPO filing application in July at the Shenzhen stock exchange was suspended for lack of the necessary documents.
According to Fidelity, Wang plans to raise as much as $6 billion from the IPO proceeds, which will reportedly be used to fund an expansion program that will cover the "world's 10 largest cities over the next decade, beginning last year with Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Madrid and Gold Coast."
The two listings, both expected to be completed before the end of the year according to Reuters, would raise capital to accelerate Wang's expansion in his entertainment as well as property businesses.
